On Aug. 11, the Nixa, Mo.-based Market Fresh completed its acquisition of West Central Florida Produce.

Market Fresh is upgrading West Central repacking facility, according to a news release.

West Central Florida’s shareholders remain minority partners in the company, according to the release.

Long-term, Market Fresh officials plan to expand West Central Florida’s product selection beyond tomatoes and offer the other categories Market Fresh offers, according to the release.

“This is an exciting time in the life of our company,” Steve Phipps, Market Fresh chief executive officer and owner, said in the release. “Having a repacking and distribution facility located in Florida really strengthens our go to market strategy, not only in Florida, but in many areas outside of the state.”

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About the Author:

Doug Ohlemeier

Doug Ohlemeier, who has written for The Packer since 2001, serves as eastern editor, a position he has held since August 2006. He started at The Packer as a staff writer after working for nearly a decade in commodity promotion at the Kansas Wheat Commission, where he was a marketing specialist.
Doug worked in radio and television news writing, producing and reporting for seven years in Texas, Missouri and Nebraska.
He graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, in 1984, with a bachelor of science degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in history. He earned a master’s in corporate communications from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1991. In college, he served as a news editor of the daily O’Collegian newspaper and interned in radio and television news departments.